This morning we took a short walk around part of our resort, and stumbled upon this strange bit of sadness on our walk. It seems there could be a story here if you look closely… ten points to any reader that can share the story!

I enjoyed my final Hawaiian latte (with macadamia nut and coconut syrup- yum), and and we watched the dolphins play and called our Uber after checkout. It took a long time to get an Uber to agree to come up here! With only a few (admittedly fake) tears on my part, we checked out of the Hilton Waikoloa today and moved to our next hotel, which is closer to downtown Kona and has walkable things nearby (whereas the Hilton was far north of town and more isolated).

Got checked in to our hotel for the next two nights, which is very pretty and also on the ocean, so beautiful views are easy to find! After checkin we headed into the downtown Kailua Kona shopping village (walkable from our hotel) and had a fantastic pizza lunch at Black Rock pizza and then did some shopping and sightseeing. Definitely can’t shop much when you have no suitcase space and 4 more months of travel!! 😝 Checked off two sights I wanted to see here: Hulihe’e Palace (former royal vacation home now a museum overlooking the ocean) and Mokua’ikaua Church, Hawaii’s oldest Christian church founded by missionaries in 1820. Didn’t get to go inside, but we walked around the exterior and took pictures. After that we headed back to the hotel to rest from the heat and await our big nighttime adventure tonight.

After a gorgeous sunset …

… and our first Mai Tai of the trip, we headed to dinner and the docks. Another big bucket list goal of mine was accomplished tonight! After years of seeing this activity on travel blogs and social media, we had the experience of a lifetime. I had no idea when I set out for this activity that despite a lifetime of adventure and thrill seeking (roller coasters, sky diving, bungee jumping, haunted houses, etc.), I would honestly consider it to be THE CRAZIEST thing I have EVER done. I will further preface this story with the fact that I am not typically a fearful or anxious person, but this took my breath away- quite literally!

The Manta Ray Night Snorkel

We met the guide from Hawaii Island Ocean and Kona Snorkel Tours at 9 p.m. (3 a.m. to us!) just outside of the Outrigger Resort (any Temptation Island fans? They filmed here) . The staff gave us the rules and wetsuits if desired (we opted “no” since the water was in the 70s) and we made our way down to the dock. They shared that this is the only place in the world to have a snorkel of this kind! They then took about 20 of us out on a boat in the pitch black dark. After a brief 5 minute ride, we hopped overboard into the dark water and they gave us floats to put around our feet. We swam out to a nearby floating raft that we held onto with our arms outstretched, so we were all floating side by side next to each other on the top of the water. They then turned on these huge bright lights that attract plankton (not to mention some fish and weird little bristle worms that give you little stings) and the manta rays come out in swarms to eat the plankton. I have NEVER experienced anything like this in my life. There were at least 20-30 wild rays tonight, all swimming and diving under our float, with many of them coming so close they actually brushed against us as they flapped past. We had been instructed not to touch them at all, and I truly thought we would only see them from at least several feet away, but nobody told the rays about that rule. They were RIGHT in our faces, and it was both awesome and terrifying to me. I spent half of the 20-30 minute snorkel yelling through my snorkel in excitement AND fear!! I know they cannot hurt you in any way, but these rays were HUGE and as I mentioned, I had no concept that they’d come so close to us. I practically climbed on top of Rob and sank him in my panic to not let the rays touch me 😂. What an experience! The pictures and video below don’t begin to do justice to the experience, but since (sadly) I was in charge of the underwater camera and I was freaking out, that’s all we have to show you. I would highly recommend this snorkel to anyone interested, but I’m not gonna lie… my heart is still racing!

Special note to anyone from my WW improv class who might be reading this, I sure did miss you all tonight, and I hated to be gone for my last chance to perform with you all! I loved our 30 weeks together and know you put on an amazing show! ❤️

Now I need to get some sleep! It’s 6 a.m. to this east coast girl and I have not been to bed yet! Thanks for adventuring with us!